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First of Three 2010 Global TomoTherapy User Meetings Features Strong Scientific Program, Interactive Treatment Planning Forum and Clinical Trials Discussion

TomoTherapy Incorporated last week hosted its 2010 Americas User Education Symposium, the first of three global conferences this year that give customers an opportunity to share best practices and new clinical uses for TomoTherapy , the industry's most integrated, advanced radiation therapy platform. The Americas User Education Symposium welcomed radiation oncologists, medical physicists, medical dosimetrists and radiation therapists. The program's strong educational focus enabled physicists, dosimetrists and therapists to earn continuing medical education (CME) credits.

"Bringing together TomoTherapy users provides a unique opportunity to build upon the collective knowledge of a community that has embraced the future of radiation therapy," said Thomas Rockwell "Rock" Mackie, Ph.D., TomoTherapy's co-founder and chairman of the board. "During these conferences, attendees obtain user-generated insights that can be applied immediately to further improve cancer treatment quality and expand clinical capabilities."

TomoTherapy customers from more than 65 radiation oncology departments in the U.S., Canada and Mexico attended the Americas User Education Symposium, April 15-17, in San Diego. "We were pleased that participants represented a true cross-section of the TomoTherapy clinical community," said Mitchell Weiss, M.D., a symposium steering committee member and chairman of radiation oncology for Monmouth Medical Center in New Jersey. "We had representatives from small cancer centers with only one radiation therapy system, rural cancer centers serving a broad geographic region, community hospitals and large, research-focused academic hospitals."

Featured presentations focused on a wide variety of clinical uses of the TomoTherapy treatment system, a review of active clinical trials that involve TomoTherapy technology, and interactive sessions designed to help users hone their treatment planning techniques, optimize departmental workflow and learn about up-to-date reimbursement guidelines. Highlights from the event included:

Scientific Presentations There were a number of scientific presentations chosen from submitted abstracts, which focused on treatment of cancers of the brain, breast, liver, head and neck, as well as pediatric patients. Of particular interest were two presentations that focused on using TomoTherapy technology to spare damage to memory-related cells in the hippocampus during cranial irradiation. The pre-clinical studies showed compelling evidence that TomoTherapy treatments were effective in limiting radiation delivered to the hippocampus, while providing acceptable target coverage and homogeneity. The compelling evidence in this study has resulted in a phase II cooperative group trial (RTOG 0933) to test the postulated neurocognitive benefits of TomoTherapy treatment.

Clinical Trials Currently there are more than 40 site-sponsored clinical trials involving TomoTherapy technology underway worldwide. During the symposium, attendees had the opportunity to discuss current trials and the factors that result in a good clinical practice. The interactive session also enabled attendees and session leaders to evaluate ideas for future clinical trials in order to develop further evidence about the benefits of treatment with the TomoTherapy system.

Treatment Planning Also included in the TomoTherapy Americas User Education Symposium was an interactive planning forum. Participants were provided with three cases for which to develop treatment plans. These plans were then submitted in advance of the meeting and analyzed by a committee of experienced users for several parameters, including coverage of the tumor and minimization of radiation to nearby critical structures. During the forum, the results were discussed and users shared best practices for developing the most effective treatment plans.

Optimizing Departmental Workflow Another focus of the symposium was optimizing patient treatment workflow, while maintaining quality treatment planning and patient care. Presentations and interactive sessions centered on techniques, including optimization of machine gantry rotation, field size and the image registration process, as well as patient set up in both simulation and on a daily basis for treatment.

Reimbursement Guidelines TomoTherapy also provided its attendees with updated information on reimbursement for TomoTherapy treatments. Led by Revenue Cycle Inc., a third-party radiation oncology consulting firm, the session focused on the rules for reimbursement to ensure that users work within appropriate guidelines.

Innovations in TomoTherapy Technology During the symposium, customers and company representatives discussed current and future developments of the TomoTherapy platform.

Three TomoTherapy users shared their initial clinical experiences using TomoDirect technology to treat patients, emphasizing its efficiency in treatment planning and delivery. The TomoDirect delivery mode is a non-rotational delivery option developed as a clinical complement to TomoHelical continuous 360-degree delivery. In addition, three users of the new TomoMobile relocatable radiation therapy solution presented their initial experiences using this industry-first innovation. The TomoMobile solution consists of a standard TomoTherapy radiation system housed in a custom-designed movable coach that replicates the environment of the conventional treatment vault. Speakers outlined a range of benefits of use, including: the ability to eliminate the cost and time involved with building a permanent bunker; strong acceptance by patients and referring physicians; and 98 percent system uptime for the first five months of operation.

A TomoTherapy representative also provided an update on works-in-progress research initiatives focused on furthering increasing treatment planning and delivery speed, while improving upon gold-standard TomoTherapy treatment quality.

"As patients rightfully seek greater confidence in their cancer care, it is important for TomoTherapy to facilitate this type of educational conference," said Fred Robertson, M.D., TomoTherapy CEO. "We are grateful for the passion for clinical excellence that our customers share, and the energy they bring to our educational symposia."

Coming up later in the year are TomoTherapy User Education Symposia for the Europe and Middle East region, May 6-8 in Malaga, Spain, and Asia-Pacific region, October 2-3 in Incheon, Korea.

Agenda Available For a comprehensive list of presentation titles and speakers from the TomoTherapy Americas User Education Symposium, please download the agenda.

Source: TomoTherapy Incorporated